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Like many players, I have very mixed feelings about the garrisons being added to World of Warcraft's latest expansion, Warlords of Draenor. At this year's PAX East, I sat down with Blizzard Entertainment to discuss the feature, and the studio reps explained garrisons as a way for Blizzard to bring a bit of Warcraft into the WoW universe. As a fan of WarCraft 3, I left the interview feeling hopeful and excited. But the more I thought about it, the more I began to worry that garrisons will boil down to one of three things: an expanded version of Mists of Pandaria's farms, a new daily quest hub, or just another time-sink that will keep players isolated from one another.

New York City was hit by a big snowstorm yesterday which led to snow trucks, shovels and snowblowers being out in full force. However, that was bad news for the Fifth Avenue Apple store as one of its 15 massive glass panels was shattered by a NYC cleanup crew member operating a snowblower. There's no word yet on what exactly happened, but at least now we know snowblowers and windows don't mix.

On Friday, Blizzard announced at its annual Blizzcon conference that the iOS version of its freemium battle card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft will be released during the second half of 2014, reports TouchArcade. The strategy card game is based on the World of Warcraft universe and will allow players to battle it out in turn-based card play.

Designed to be deceptively simple and epically engaging for players of all backgrounds, Hearthstone features quick and lively duels that evoke the spirit of a friendly match played beside a crackling tavern fire.

Each player's card deck centers around a hero representing one of nine iconic Warcraft classes, customized with a set of minions, spells, and/or weapons based on individual strategy and available cards. Players will be able to hone their skills in practice matches against the computer, and when they're ready for the challenge, they can take on their Battle.net friends and other players in friendly duels. To further develop their decks, players will be able to acquire cards by crafting them and by winning or purchasing new card packs. With hundreds of unique cards to choose from, the potential card combinations and possible strategies are endless!

Fans of the World of Warcraft universe will know the game was originally set to be released in 2013 for Mac, PC and iPad, so they may be a bit disappointed that the iOS version has been pushed back until the second half of 2014. However, Blizzard has announced that now the game will also be hitting the iPhone at the same time, which is sure to placate any angry ogres wielding magical spells.

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hearthstoneiOSnew appsNewAppsWorld of WarcraftWorldOfWarcraftMon, 11 Nov 2013 08:00:00 -050016|20765035http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/11/05/warlords-of-draenor-now-trademarked-in-the-us-and-europe/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Massively&ncid=rss_semi
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Here's some more fuel for speculation engines everywhere: Blizzard Entertainment has now registered the trademark for Warlords of Draenor in both the United States and Europe. This news follows the rumors from last week indicating that Blizzard had locked up the very same title in Australia.

We still don't know what Blizzard has up its sleeve, though the obvious leap is to a World of Warcraft expansion. With Blizzcon kicking off on November 7th, it's likely we'll have an answer SoonTM.

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activisionAustraliablizzardBlizzard Entertainmentblizzard-entertainmentblizzconblizzcon-2013expansionfantasysubscriptionwarcraftwarlords-of-draenorWorld of Warcraftworld-of-warcraftwowTue, 05 Nov 2013 14:00:00 -0500319|20761598http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/08/13/breakfast-topic-what-will-the-next-wow-expansion-be/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=WoW&ncid=rss_semi
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What will the next WoW expansion be? With only one major content patch left in Mists of Pandaria, and BlizzCon 2013 around the corner, it won't be long before we know what's next. But what do you think is coming? Will we be venturing into the Emerald Dream alongside Malfurion, or was Anne Stickney onto something when she speculated that the Mists of Pandaria might be our Emerald Dream expansion?

What about the ongoing legendary questline with Wrathion? Wrathion has been referencing the return of the Burning Legion in much of his quest text. Does that mean demons will be descending upon Azeroth in the next expansion? Will we finally get to see Sargeras?

Also, you wouldn't want to forget Queen Azshara. You would think we'd have seen her and the city Nazjatar in the Cataclysm expansion, but so far she's only made minor or indirect appearances. Azshara is the perfect accompaniment to some recent fan speculation about the naga being the next possible playable race. Unfortunately, Ghostcrawler pretty much shot that down by pointing out the naga's lack of legs would make it difficult to design armor for them.

And, of course, there's always ... Trolls? Wait, really? More trolls? You wouldn't think it, but in the same interview where Ghostcrawler killed our naga dreams, he said that trolls were an option the game lore could still explore in future content. Huh ... Go figure.

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azsharablizzcon-2013Burning-Legionemerald-dreamemerald-dream-expansionlegendary-itemsmists-of-pandarianext expansion for wownext world of warcraft expansionnext wow expansionnext wow expantionnext-expansionnext-wow-expansionnextexpansionforwownextworldofwarcraftexpansionnextwowexpansionnextwowexpantionqueen-azsharasargerastrollswhat is the next wow expansionwhat will wows next expansion bewhatisthenextwowexpansionwhatwillwowsnextexpansionbeworld of warcraftworld of warcraft next expansionworldofwarcraftworldofwarcraftnextexpansionwow expansionwow next expansiowow next expansionwow-trollswowexpansionwownextexpansiowownextexpansionwrathionTue, 13 Aug 2013 08:00:00 -040099|20691957http://www.tuaw.com/2013/05/25/caturday-me-wow/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=TUAW.com&ncid=rss_semi
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We don't have a name for this week's Caturday model, but owner Baz Francis of Adelaide, South Australia says that "he's a two month old ginger kitten who loves watching my partner play World of Warcraft on my 15" MacBook Pro. When he's not intently staring at the screen with his head tilted or clawing at the weird characters, he's lying on his back dreaming that he's a Mac superman."

This looks like just the cat for our very own gamer extraordinaire, Mike Schramm! If you've got a Caturday nominee to share, let us know via our feedback page. For security reasons we can't accept inbound attachments, so you should host the photo (Dropbox, Flickr, iPhoto Journals, etc.) and send us the link.

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caturdayWorld of WarcraftWorldOfWarcraftSat, 25 May 2013 10:00:00 -040016|20583392http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/05/02/bringing-the-sw-tor-legacy-system-to-wow/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=WoW&ncid=rss_semi
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I had a lot of fun during my brief stint as a Sith Inquisitor in Star Wars: The Old Republic. The leveling was great, the storylines were compelling, the instances were interesting, but I eventually went back to World of Warcraft in the end. SW:TOR didn't feel very unique, it didn't have enough to grab me and hold me, to suffocate me with its content and keep me away from Blizzard.

Even so, there were a few differences between Bioware's entry into the MMO space and our site's namesake, one of them being the concept of a server-wide legacy. SW:TOR's legacy system, if incorporated into WoW, could be a great way of introducing leveling bonuses and the like, something WoW has historically done via heirlooms and guild perks. Personally, heirlooms have always left me feeling a bit too overpowered and take some of the fun out of the leveling process -- I've even leveled characters without heirlooms, just because it's more challenging and, thus, rewarding.

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heirloomslast-names-in-wowlegacy-systemStar Wars: The Old RepublicWorld of WarcraftWorld of Warcraft: Mists of PandariaThu, 02 May 2013 15:00:00 -040099|20555855http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/02/14/my-first-week-as-horde/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=WoW&ncid=rss_semi
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I've been playing World of Warcraft for a very long time. Since it was closed beta, in fact. Back when the game was still brand new, I mean right when the servers first opened up, I played for team red. I was a Horde shaman, and proud to be so. My first shaman was not named Lodur, in fact it was what I thought at the time was the ever clever name of Rum. I played with one of my buddies who named his warrior Coke. We played with a bunch of coworkers and friends from college until partway through Classic WoW when they either got promoted at work, graduated or stopped playing. Some of our group though decided to move to another server and see how things were going on the Alliance side of things.

Off to Zul'jin we went, and with moving servers and factions in a time before server transfers or faction swaps were around, came a new toon. Abigail, the night elf hunter was born. She's traveled servers, and been race changed multiple times since she was born. I finished Classic WoW on her raiding with friends all the way through the original Naxxramas. I still gave a lot of love to Rum though, and even found time to run him through Ahn'Qiraj 40. When Burning Crusade released, though, Rum fell to the wayside as Lodur was born over with my Alliance family. I hadn't returned to horde except for a brief tour with the Choose My Adventure here on the site, that was until this past week when I server and faction changed my long time hunter over to play Horde side again with friends.

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Entertainmentfaction changefaction swapFactionChangeFactionSwaphordeorgrimmarSci/Techsilvermoon citySilvermoonCityStormWindthunder bluffThunderBluffundercityWorld of WarcraftThu, 14 Feb 2013 14:00:00 -050099|20461626http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/11/01/why-i-play-world-of-tanks/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Massively&ncid=rss_semi
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I am not good at video games. It's really no secret -- anyone who's ever tuned in for one of my livestreams can confirm that I spend much more time blown up and in the process of being blown up than triumphantly dominating the battlefield. That's just what happens when I'm responsible for my own survival.

So you'd think that a game like World of Tanks, in which victory is based heavily on your skill with a massive gun, would be a turn-off for me. After all, where's the fun in sitting in a smoldering heap while your team attempts to make up for your buffoonery? What exactly is enjoyable about getting repeatedly reduced to scrap metal?

Sit back a spell and I'll tell you. This is why I play World of Tanks.

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columnf2pfreefree-to-playhands-onhistoricalimpressionsPatchpatchespreviewpvpSci/TechtanktankswarWargaming.netwhy-i-playWorld of Warcraftworld-of-tanksworld-of-tanks-8.0wotThu, 01 Nov 2012 11:00:00 -0400319|20367057http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/21/the-queue-is-fox-leaving-forever/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=WoW&ncid=rss_semi
http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/21/the-queue-is-fox-leaving-forever/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/08/21/the-queue-is-fox-leaving-forever/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=WoW#commentsWelcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Fox Van Allen (@foxvanallen) will be your host today.

Hey everyone! Gather the kids, because it's one of those "special event" things. Fox Van Allen is doing The Queue today and that's pretty darn exciting. OK, sure, it's not "hit the jackpot" exciting. It's a more gentle kind of exciting. Like the kind where if for a day Pat Sajak hosted Jeopardy! and Alex Trebek hosted Wheel of Fortune.

Anyway. Because I'm an egotistical jerk who has only been made even more insufferable by the blazing Los Angeles sun, I'm going to start this Queue off by answering a question about myself.

@thebmatt asked:

I just saw on @WoWInsider you [Fox] won't be writing the Shadow priest column anymore. True?

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blackfallow-inkink-tradinginscriptionpatch-5.0.4world of warcraftWorldOfWarcraftwowTue, 21 Aug 2012 11:00:00 -040099|20305376http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/06/22/wow-archivist-5-years-of-daily-quests/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=WoW&ncid=rss_semi
http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/06/22/wow-archivist-5-years-of-daily-quests/http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/06/22/wow-archivist-5-years-of-daily-quests/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=WoW#commentsWoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history?What secrets does the game still hold?

One of Blizzard's big selling points for Mists seems to be its huge amount of daily quest content. Dailies are undoubtedly going to be a big deal at level 90. Blizzard has even lifted the daily quest cap that has stood at 25 for several years, so players will be free to do whatever dailies they like across the entire history of the game.

Dailies seem like such an obvious and critical element of WoW, but they weren't part of the vanilla game. In this week's Archivist, we'll explore how daily quests began, how they have changed over the years, and how Blizzard is trying to recreate the glory days of daily quests in Mists.

WTH is this blue exclamation point?

Has a single piece of designed punctuation ever been as famous as WoW's chubby yellow exclamation point? It even has its own merchandise.

Believe it or not, the exclamation point was one of Blizzard's biggest innovations when they created the game. No longer did you have to chat with every single NPC in town to figure out which one of them needed a favor -- a staple of RPG games for decades. Now you could tell at a glance which NPCs were willing to pay for a bit of random mercenary work.

I remember how odd that first blue exclamation point looked. They had been yellow, after all, for two and a half years. Changing its color seemed like sacrilege. After accepting the quest, it had the word "(Daily)" next to it in my log -- it felt like both a promise and a warning. Daily quests were an exciting new element, but they were not without their critics.

This time last year, SteelSeries showed us a headset and mouse meant for Diablo III, but at E3 2012, the company showed us a bunch of goodies. The highlight is the inaugural SteelSeries cordless offering, aptly named the World of Warcraft wireless mouse, which sports a themed skin and glowing white runes and logo on the palmrest (at least that's the plan, the prototype unit we saw didn't light up). Similarly, the charging base is studded in true Azeroth style and ringed in blue runes to let you know when it's powered up, plus it can be connected to your computer via microUSB if you want to play and charge simultaneously. It's PC and Mac compatible, comes with 11 programmable buttons, and once you've given it 60 minutes to fill its tank, you'll get up to 16 hours of continuous, intensive game play. It's set for a release in the latter half of this year and will cost $129.

Along with the WoW model, we also got to see the gunmetal grey MLG edition Sensei and a pair of special-edition Kana mice -- for Dota 2 and CounterStrike: Global Offensive -- each uniquely skinned in the style of their namesake games. To go along with the CS:GO rodent, there's an accompanying headset (a Siberia v2 with a camo paint job) as well. Rounding things out is a GuildWars 2 branded headset and Sensei mouse. The stereo headset is the on-ear variety, and its flexible white frame can be folded down during travel. A 3.5mm input resides at the base of each earcup, and the open jack can be used to connect another set of headphones to share your audio with a friend. The headset's priced at $100, while the mouse will retail for $70 and will land on store shelves when Guildwars 2 is released.

There's plenty of cool stuff to see on the floor of this year's TechCrunch Disrupt, but nothing's likely quite so eye-catching as Incantor, a mobile game that utilizes your smartphone and, naturally, a magic wand, to bring fantasy-style action to the real world -- or as the game's creators put it, to "bring World of Warcraft to real life." The wand speaks to your handset via Bluetooth, detecting your gestures and generating "spells." Hold your phone in portrait, and you'll get personal information, including your character level, spell bag, etc. Flip it to landscape, and you'll get a Google Map overlay, showing you other players in your area.

There are 13 different game play modes in all, and you can play as a group or solo. Moveable Code was only showing off one wand at the show, but the company expects to make 10 available in all, representing different classes. Interested parties can find out more at the Kickstarter link in the source below. Beta testing will begin in early Q4, with widespread availability coming by year's end. The wand, which offers up feedback based on gameplay (including interactions with other players), should run you around $60 when it hits the market. You can play the game sans phone, but we're told its not quite as fun.

Either way, sparring, quests and games capture the flag should get people outside a bit more than PC-based MMORPGs. Sunscreen, however, is not included. Check out a video of Incantor's creators demonstrating the game after the break.

If you're in the Mists of Pandaria beta, chances are good that you've encountered a few bugs by now. As a beta tester, it's not just your job to sit there and play through the game. You're also expected to report the bugs you happen upon in your travels through Pandaria. Blizzard has provided beta forums for feedback and bug reporting, so you've got a place to jot those bugs down. Once you've found and identified a bug, you should write up a brief report so Blizzard knows that there's a problem and can fix the problem before release.

Before you scamper off to the beta forums, however, there's a proper way to write these bug reports so that Blizzard knows what you're talking about and can take appropriate action. If you write a bug report incorrectly, you're not helping matters any -- and in some cases, you can even confuse the situation and make it worse. So how do you write a good bug report on the beta forums?

Have you made it into the Mists of Pandaria beta yet? Being a beta tester isn't about simply playing through a free sample of the game. If you're expecting a completed product when you log in, you're in for a surprise. What you are playing is a not-quite-finished version of the game, and it's highly likely you'll run into your fair share of bugs as you're wandering Pandaria's gorgeous hills and valleys. As a beta tester, it's your job to report those bugs you find in game, so that they can be fixed before the game goes live.

However, not every error out there deserves a report. Things like NPCs that are marked with a PC or NYI tag are things the developers already know about -- they're just placeholder models. Music isn't yet implemented into Pandaria yet either, but the developers know about that, too. So what makes a bug a bug, and what kinds of bugs should you report?

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betabeta-bugsbeta-testingbeta-testing-101mists-of-pandariamists-of-pandaria-betamists-of-pandaria-beta-testingmopmop-betamop-beta-testingpandariaWorld of WarcraftWorldOfWarcraftwow-betaWow-mopMon, 09 Apr 2012 14:00:00 -040099|20211018http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/beta-testing-101-what-to-and-what-not-to-expect-from-the-mop/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=WoW&ncid=rss_semi
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In the most exciting World of Warcraft news of 2012, the beta for Mists of Pandaria opened up this week. Like millions of other players, I was not one of the lucky few chosen for the first round of beta invites. However, there are a number of diligent players currently hard at work testing some of the changes coming in MoP, as well as datamining glyphs and leveling monks.

If you're one of the lucky players who got in this week or if you manage to get in in the next few weeks, there are some important facts you should know before you play the beta. For seasoned veterans of beta testing, these will be self evident. For the others for whom this will be the first beta ever, these are things you should read and consider. If you don't, you could turn into one of the disappointing trade chat trolls who rages about their warrior suddenly having a mana bar (and other fun beta mishaps).

Oh yes, there will be bugs

Above all else, the thing you can most expect from the beta of any video game ever is that there will be bugs. Bugs are one of the main reasons games go into beta; they're a way of allowing scores of players to scour every inch of the game world for bugs by doing everything possible that could possibly cause an issue. By doing this, Blizzard can isolate and treat bugs before they ever make it to live servers, allowing players on live a smooth playing experience.

In my time playing WoW, I've been in a lot of guilds. I've played in guilds that were fighting for the realm-first heroic progression spot and others that were content at realm 15th. I've been a part of the Reddit guild families, which are so large that they need a chat mod to link the multiple guilds for all their members. I've also been in guilds like my current one that have a grand total of 15 people as members.

The World of Warcraft guild experience is as wide and varied as the players who play this game. I'm an unabashed guild-hopper who wants very specific things from a guild and is willing to leave if they don't happen. Other players are loyalists, who find one guild and form lasting bonds that keep them playing with the same group of friends for their entire WoW experience.

Is WoW social media?

Cynwise at Cynwise's Battlefield Manual wrote a post last month about the fact that World of Warcraft is a form of social media. There's no denying that fact: The entire MMORPG genre is based on the idea that you are playing a game with other human beings, not just facing off against the computer as in the genre's predecessors. In fact, I'd go even further and suggest that in many ways, WoW has potential to be an ideal form of social media.

If you're going help save the world, you might as well get a little something for yourself at the same time, right? World of Warcraft fans listen up, because Blizzard wants you to help them help St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and it's willing to give you a fairly unique piece of WoW memorabilia for digging deep. The game developer is once again auctioning off World of Warcraft server blades. This time, the company's offering up 2,000 HP p-Class blades that were recently retired when it upgraded its backend hardware. The blades, which have gone up for auction on eBay, have been fitted with a clear case bearing the WoW logo and a plaque featuring a slew of developer signatures. One-hundred percent of proceeds will go to help the research hospital.

Every week, Raid Rxwill help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poohbah of World of Matticus and a founder of Plus Heal, a discussion community for healers of all experience levels and interests. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading, the Matticast.

This is it. This is the final encounter of the expansion. Everything you've ever worked for and fought through has led to this point. This is the moment you get to help rid the world of Deathwing. First, we need to ground this oversized lizard. Immediately after the conclusion of the gunship (part two), you'll be parachuting onto Deathwing's back. We'll go over the different obstacles and what you and your healers need to do to get over the proverbial raid hump. (To the raiders who do 10-mans, you'll have to adjust the numbers a bit. I'm not as well versed on 10s, so you'll have to bear with me as I draw up assistance for the 25-man version.)

To attack the Spine of Deathwing, we need to peel off those metal plates on Deathwing's back so that we can really weaken him further. Our healing goal here is to ensure that our tanks live. Apparently, Deathwing has all sorts of little defenses that he'll use to try to shake us off; there are several threats on this fight that healers need to be aware of. You're on an extremely narrow field of battle here, so movement's going to be really limited.

What did you expect, though? You're fighting on the back of a former dragon aspect.

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deathwingdragon soulDragonSoulhealerhealingLeap Of Faithpriestworld of warcraftWorldOfWarcraftFri, 23 Dec 2011 19:00:00 -050099|20129016http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/23/blood-sport-how-will-patch-4-3-impact-pvp/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=WoW&ncid=rss_semi
http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/23/blood-sport-how-will-patch-4-3-impact-pvp/http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/11/23/blood-sport-how-will-patch-4-3-impact-pvp/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=WoW#commentsWoW Insider covers the world of player vs. player action in Blood Sport for fans of battleground, world PvP and Arena play. Steering you to victory is Olivia Grace, who spends most of her time in Azeroth as a restoration shaman turning people into frogs.

With patch 4.3 imminent and Arena season 10 due to end Nov. 29, it seems reasonable to assume the patch will appear in early December. While you're racing to get your team into title range, get that last piece of gear, or just running laps of your capital city, you might be thinking forward to the arrival of the patch and wondering what your fate will be in PvP as the nerf bat winds up for another swing. Firstly, let's deal with some housekeeping.

Conquest points, the PvP equivalent of valor points, will now be far, far easier to earn from ordinary Battlegrounds. The first daily Battleground win will now award 100 conquest points, up from 25, and wins after that will award 50 conquest point, up from, well, none! The conquest cap will remain, so while it will still be far quicker to reach it through Arena, it will also be attainable via Battlegrounds of the non-rated variety. This makes it far easier for solo players to build up the resilience numbers people often demand (fairly or otherwise) for access to Arena and Rated Battleground teams or just to gear for Battlegrounds.

While it's unknown when they spawn (I've heard every six hours or so, but I'm not sure), a troupe of faerie dragons slowly flies to this mushroom ring and begins to sing.

Tendrils of golden light flow and meet in the center of the circle, while ethereal music notes float all around. A beautiful little piece of music accompanies all of this, lasting about two and a half minutes. The infected animals of the Whispering Forest even come around to witness the performance. After they're done, the dragons leave and despawn.

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cataclysmdragonsemerald dreamEmeraldDreamfaerieforsakentirisfaltirisfal-gladesWorld of WarcraftWorldOfWarcraftTue, 19 Jul 2011 14:00:00 -040099|19994388http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/28/world-of-warcraft-starter-edition-lets-you-reach-lvl-20-for-free/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/28/world-of-warcraft-starter-edition-lets-you-reach-lvl-20-for-free/http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/28/world-of-warcraft-starter-edition-lets-you-reach-lvl-20-for-free/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments
If there was one thing, one thing, keeping humanity safe from total enslavement to the grind of World of Warcraft, it was the fact that you have to pay to play the game for longer than a couple of weeks. Well, now we're all doomed. Blizzard is replacing its 14-day WoW trial with a so-called Starter Edition of the massively multiplayer life usurper, which lets you reach level 20 without shelling out a penny. Of course, like any good gateway drug, this freebie is capped at the thoroughly insufficient 20 number and is sure to agitate folks into buying the full product. One small step for a software company, one giant leap forward for global obesity rates.

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battle.netblizzardfreegamesgaminginternetmmommorpgonlineonline gamingOnlineGamingvideo gamesVideoGameswebworld of warcraftWorldOfWarcraftwowTue, 28 Jun 2011 20:29:00 -040021|19978931http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/14/shocker-gamer-behavior-is-actually-quite-predictable/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/14/shocker-gamer-behavior-is-actually-quite-predictable/http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/14/shocker-gamer-behavior-is-actually-quite-predictable/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments
Isn't it curious how you always crack open a beer before settling in for some GTA? Or how you tend to put an anxious hand over your wallet when logging onto PSN? No soldier, it is not curious. Not at all. But this is: Researchers at North Carolina State University claim they've found a way to predict your in-game behavior with "up to 80 percent accuracy." After analyzing the decision-making of 14,000 World of Warcraft players, they noticed that different players prefer different types of achievements. These preferred achievements clump together into statistically significant groups, known as "cliques", even if they have nothing obvious in common. So a WoW player who likes to improve their unarmed combat skills also, for some psychological reason, tends to want points for world travel. What's more, the researchers believe that clique-spotting can be exploited outside the rather specific world of WoW, in which case their method could prove lucrative to game designers, online retailers and pretty much anyone with an interest in predicting your next move. Want to know more? Then we predict you'll click the PR after the break.

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analysisbehaviorgamernorth carolina state universityNorthCarolinaStateUniversityobservationpredictionpredictivepsychologyresearchsequentialshockerstatisticsstudyworld of warcraftWorldOfWarcraftTue, 14 Jun 2011 16:47:00 -040021|19966840http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/28/free-kinect-keyboard-emulator-lets-you-wow-while-afk-video/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/28/free-kinect-keyboard-emulator-lets-you-wow-while-afk-video/http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/28/free-kinect-keyboard-emulator-lets-you-wow-while-afk-video/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#commentsWorld of Warcraft is a lot of things to a lot of people, a whole lot of people, but it's never been much of an immersive gameplay experience -- casting Plague Strike doesn't seem all that unholy when it's triggered by frantically tapping a key on a keyboard. Moving an arm would be at least a bit more involving, and with the Flexible Action and Articulated Toolkit, or FAAST, from the USC Institute for Creative Technologies, that's just what you can do. It's basically a software layer over your Kinect, built over OpenNI, that recognizes a skeleton and enables about 20 different motions to be mapped to key presses. This means you can lean forward to walk, raise your right arm to perform an action, and then sit down to take a breather after all that exertion. It's currently versioned .03, so don't expect miracles, but it is available for free at the other end of the source link. It's also demonstrated below, but don't tarry too long: guild meeting starts in five.

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faasthackkeyboard emulatorKeyboardEmulatorkinectkinect hackKinectHackmicrosoftuscusc institute for creative technologiesUscInstituteForCreativeTechnologiesvideoworld of warcraftWorldOfWarcraftTue, 28 Dec 2010 08:55:00 -050021|19778810http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/02/gamestring-demos-its-streaming-custom-world-of-warcraft-ui-by-r/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/02/gamestring-demos-its-streaming-custom-world-of-warcraft-ui-by-r/http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/02/gamestring-demos-its-streaming-custom-world-of-warcraft-ui-by-r/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments
We're still not ready to apply the label "Gaming 3.0" here (or to anything, for that matter), but despite its boasts, GameString's making a compelling case for cloud-based play time. We've already seen the company bring World of Warcraft to Google TV, but now the company's showcasing its take on a challenge we've seen a few times before -- streaming a playable version of WoW to a mobile phone. (Gotta get 'em out of the house somehow.) The trick here is a streamlined UI overlay that makes for a every touch-friendly experience; there's translucent "thumbstick" spots and larger buttons for spells. The setup in question here is its Adrenalin Host Server from approximately 80 kilometers away (geographically) and an HTC Desire running over a home network that's 2Mbps down / 2Mbps up. And while there's some notable lag and parts of the interface that's still too tiny to really use, it's still an Alpha build that seems functional for all but the most intense of moments. See it for yourself after the break.